love is in the air

This past Sunday the English center we work for (EEC) hosted a Valentine's party with the theme "EEC Idol." American Idol is wildly popular here and can be seen on TV every Wednesday and Thursday night at 5 pm, 7pm and 10pm. They want to make sure everyone gets a chance to watch. The party was definitely a success, I believe there were close to 50 students there.
Ten students signed up to perform and we were treated to these wonderful sounds for over an hour while our judges (Roger was Randy Jackson and we had a Paula and Simon as well) critiqued each performance. To make it even more realistic the students text messaged votes for their favorite performer.
After the competition was over we were able to break the students into small groups and ask them questions about love and what it meant to them. Through this we were able to share with them what we thought the ultimate act of love was and tell them a story about a sacrificial act of love. Overall it was a fun night to meet new friends and celebrate the holiday.
The other big event of the week was of course Valentine's Day. We decided it was a good excuse to go out for dinner so we dressed up, drove across the city to one of our favorite pizza places for some BBQ Chicken pizza and mozzarella sticks.
We are also getting our house painted this week. After being here for 6 weeks we have decided to try to make it look like we live here. Once the painting is finished we will be doing some serious shopping for pictures, mirrors and all the other stuff that makes a house look like a home. In order to kick off the project we went to the Hypermart after dinner and bought Roger an electric drill. He's feeling pretty tough now. There are more pictures from EEC Idol at www.rogerandcourtney.zenfolio.com and keep checking back here, now that the decorating has begun I (Courtney) am going to have my own Extreme Makeover: Asia Edition. Roger thinks it's silly, but I think it will be fun. Until then...